


The Real Tom Ripley

by Jestana



Series: 30 Days of AU [4]
Category: Talented Mr Ripley (1999)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-05
Updated: 2013-07-05
Packaged: 2017-12-17 17:44:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/870222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jestana/pseuds/Jestana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter is the only person who seems to like the real Tom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Real Tom Ripley

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 30 day AU challenge. The challenge for this one was _Superhero_ , which I kind of interpreted as superpowers. No beta.

Even before he developed the ability to change his appearance so he was taller, shorter, fatter, skinnier, Tom Ripley had learned the art of blending in. He learned how to go unnoticed in a crowd, how to be someone he wasn't. Being able to change his appearance simply made that easier. Then Herbert Greenleaf offered him the chance to go to Italy, somewhere he'd _always_ wanted to go, and he jumped at it.

Only, it wasn't everything he'd hoped it would be. He was Dickie's best friend until Freddie Myles showed up. Tom could see his dream of staying in Italy crumbling before his eyes. He couldn't go back to the life he'd had before. He was desperate to stay, so he did whatever it took to stay in Italy.

Then he met Peter Smith-Kingsley and he seemed to like Tom best when he was being himself, when he wasn't playing a part. It was a strange experience for him. Even as a kid, his dad had wanted him to be more interested in sports than classical music. With Dickie, he'd pretended to like jazz, to know what it was like to have servants around. Peter seemed to like plain old Tom: the slightly scrawny kid who loved classical music and art and history.

When Peter invited him to go to Greece with him, Tom gladly accepted. He needed to get out of Italy for a while, to let the furor over Dickie's death die down. What better way to do it than travel with a friend to another place he'd always wanted to see? Then Meredith found him and called him Dickie because he'd stupidly told her that was his name when they'd both arrived in Italy. She was a big group and Tom was just traveling with Peter.

He knew what he had to do, what he _should_ do, but he couldn't go through with it. He couldn't kill the one person who didn't want him to be anyone except himself. To his horror, he began to cry and quickly pressed the belt to his eyes to hide the tears. Not surprisingly, Peter sat up and wrapped an arm around Tom's shoulders, a warm comforting weight that he didn't deserve. "Tom, what is it? What's wrong?"

"I told Meredith _I_ was Dickie Greenleaf when we met," Tom told him, leaning into Peter's warmth, greedily taking what comfort he could get. "Just once, I wanted to know what it felt like to have someone hear my name and recognize it right away even though we'd never met before."

"You lucked out, you know," Peter told him, rubbing his shoulder soothingly. "She hadn't met Dickie yet. If she had, she'd have known you lied."

"I know, I know." Tom sighed, rubbing his eyes. "I thought of that, but only after the words were out of my mouth."

"Wait, so if Meredith thinks _you're_ Dickie, then she was actually seeing _you_ when she told Marge she'd been seeing Dickie." He waited miserably for Peter to push him away, to finally be disgusted or annoyed with him. Instead, Peter sounded worried: "That must have been stressful for you, being Tom with me and Marge and Dickie with Meredith."

"Story of my life," Tom admitted with a shrug. "I'm always playing a part. People have never liked the real Tom Ripley. No one cared about what _I_ wanted, it was always about what _they_ wanted."

" _I_ care." Peter squeezed Tom's shoulders. "I want you to be happy and you certainly seemed like you were earlier, up on deck."

"I was and am happy with you." He finally looked up to meet Peter's eyes. "But I haven't told you the whole truth about me."

A frown creased Peter's forehead, but he didn't move away. "What do you mean?"

Tom bit his lip before he decided, if he was going to tell anyone, Peter was the best choice. He'd never judged him and had always liked him the way he was. "I can do more than change my behavior to make people like me."

The frown deepened and Peter sounded puzzled. "What, you can change your clothes and the way you wear your hair?"

"More than that." Tom took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he focused on changing his appearance so he looked just like Dickie, right down to the light dusting of freckles across his upper back.

Peter stared at him in utter shock. "I thought the rumors of people with superpowers were just silly nonsense."

"No, we're out there, but the few I know prefer to keep their powers secret." He'd even changed his voice so he sounded like Dickie.

Tom never thought he'd see someone visibly shudder like Peter did in that moment. "This is a little weird, seeing and hearing a dead man. Could you change back to Tom?"

"Gladly." He stopped focusing on keeping Dickie's appearance and returned to what he'd been born with, turning and hugging Peter the next moment.

Without hesitation, Peter hugged him back, rubbing his back in light soothing circles. "What's this for?"

"You're the first person who's ever wanted _me_ ," he explained, crying again, but this time they were tears of happiness and relief.

His heart skipped a beat when he felt Peter press a kiss to his temple. "Everyone else who's known you has been an idiot, not to see what a wonderful person you are."

"You're the only one who thinks so." Tom closed his eyes, leaning into Peter's warmth.

"That means I get the real you all to myself, then." Peter's voice was light, but sincere. "Lucky me."

Tom shook his head and pulled back enough to meet Peter's eyes. "No, lucky _me_."


End file.
